+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++
Nomosian Countryside
November 19, 1538 CE
It took more than a day this time for them to reach Presidio in full force. Naturally, Hans and Adelyn scouted the destroyed city yesterday afternoon briefly. But the rest of the 1st Anti-Demon Unit naturally lagged considerably on the march.
They didn’t go into a rush similar to Hans’ previous run.
He wanted their forces to not be too tired. So no rushed deployments or forced march. Thus, it was already mid-afternoon when he finally saw the first elements of Captain Strobel’s cavalry rushing through one of the dirt roads that led to Presidio.
“Took them quite long,” the Viceroy seemed extremely dissatisfied by this. She resisted the calls from Hans for caution, and so she rushed here and even conducted night-time scouting last night. Unfortunately, for some reason, the demon wasn’t spotted.
Hans frowned.
Probably because we’re too late.
“They marched for hundreds of kilometers,” Adelyn mumbled, as she lowered her binoculars. She turned to Hans. “You know, I think we might need to make camp here in Presidio again. Then just scour the countryside for a few hours while using this place as our base of operations.”
“What do you think about that, Lady Viviani?” Hans asked, turning to the Viceroy beside him.
“I say we march ahead of them,” she insisted. “Let’s just…keep pressing onward. To the south. To be honest, they’re holding us back.”
“Innacurate assessment, Madame,” Hans shot back. “The 1st Anti-Demon Unit is slower, yes. And they’re a bit harder to manage due to their size. But they are our mobile army, even if they’re not as mobile as us. I need all of those artillery pieces and battlemages to cover us and sap down the strength of any demon we go against.”
“That, and the musketeers themselves provide the ability to control and lock down territory on the battlefield. They’re an area denial weapon. Especially since I’ve heard that many of the soldiers finally upgraded their skills for their guns,” Adelyn added.
“Yep. They’re gaining experience one by one. In a fight against a demon, every firepower you can throw at them during a pitched battle is useful. Not a single effort is wasted effort. And that’s probably why you failed,” Hans narrowed his eyes as he looked at the Viceroy. “You fought him practically alone, didn’t you?”
“I had no choice—”
“And that’s exactly what will happen if we do not create that choice,” Hans explained. “No matter how strong we are, it seems that we always need assistance. We’re going to get that assistance before we fight.”
“Fine…” the Viceroy shook her head. “I’m going to scout further. I can’t sit here doing nothing.”
“Captain,” Hans turned to Adelyn. “Rally them and prepare them around Presidio. I’ll cover the Viceroy. If we find a demon, we won’t engage and call you guys up.”
“Alright,” Adelyn nodded before she pouted. “Make sure to not do anything stupid. If I find the two of you dead before I reach—”
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll pull her off any engagement before we even get into one,” Hans turned back to the Viceroy. “Right? If we find a demon, we’re immediately retreating. At once.”
“Alright,” the Viceroy nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind, Lieutenant.”
+++
Damn…it’s hard to keep up with powerful mages!
Hans kept driving hard with his mech in the countryside. Ahead of him, the Viceroy stopped using her horse, which she had left at the hastily set up camp on their rear. Instead, she seemed to be using her magic to levitate herself on top of her staff. The same staff she summoned out of nowhere.
Hans was naturally gobsmacked when he saw it. It truly reminded him of witches who rode on top of their brooms. Naturally, it must be a complex and physically demanding spell, so perhaps it was why he never saw it yet.
He imagined Adelyn would be all jealous about it now that he thought about it. He could already half-see his partner devouring grimoires to learn more about magical theory and various spells. All to desperately match someone else with better magic.
But for now…
“Alright, I see your point now,” Hans said through his speakers. “But we’re already forty kilometers away from our camp in Presidio. I think we’re overextending ourselves!”
She suddenly stopped, landing right on the green fields ahead of him. Hans pulled his mech into a break after he reached her. His mech then turned its turret left and right to scan the horizon ahead of them. Then, Hans jumped out of his vehicle and followed the Viceroy as she walked toward the treeline.
“Hey! Hey! Where are you going—?”
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She pointed at the destroyed village ahead of them. She remained silent.
Hans took his binoculars and looked through it. It seemed that it had just recently attacked. The village was still somewhat on fire. But there was no one running away from it. Not a single soul.
“Damn…”
“I told you,” the Viceroy said. “I told you, the more we sit it out, the more settlements these monsters will destroy. Had we just pressed onwards, together, the three of us yesterday…this wouldn’t have happened.”
“Look, I get that it’s true,” Hans replied. “But we might just end up dead if we did that. This seems to be the work of a lower demon though. Not of a Calamity.”
“And how do you know that?” she tilted her head to the side.
“I don’t know. If it’s a Calamity, it would have targeted my ass already. Or Adelyn’s ass,” Hans shook his head. “They seem to like targeting angels, after all.”
Truthfully, he only knew it because he had already seen that wolf-like demon. Those fires were probably created by those beams. Well…he saw circular holes amongst some houses that were on fire. That practically concluded his assessment. Their delay allowed the demon to move out of the forest it hid in during his previous run.
“I suppose that makes sense,” the Viceroy shook her head. “Alright…I don’t know. Should we attack the demon?”
“Are you crazy? Oi, my job here is to pull you out from brazenly starting a fight with something we can’t fight.”
“I meant,” the Viceroy frowned. “Attack it…then we’ll try to run back away. I’ll try to search for it.”
Hans frowned and looked back to his mech. They were too far for his radio’s range.
“I wouldn’t be able to signal Captain Wittenstein,” Hans warned. “It’d be a long retreat before I can alert her and mobilize the rest of our troops.”
She sighed, then looked forward.
“Alright. I’ll do everything I can to keep that demon off. Your job is just to cover me, after all. Let’s do this.”
+++
Hans dodged another beam from the demon. It seemed to be hell-bent on chasing him and the Viceroy as they retreated from its rampage. This time around, he was once again not fairing well. They were still twenty kilometers away from Presidio after all. And his mech’s legs were already screaming from the pressure being placed on it.
“Damn it!” Hans shouted, as he stopped his mech, took aim, and fired an MPAT round straight at the demon. It dodged it on the flat fields. Then out came its dozens of copies, all charging at him again. “Where the hell is the real thing?!”
The Viceroy, who was still flying up high in the sky, landed on one of the destroyed farmhouses they passed by. She then aimed her staff in the direction of the demons and created four purple magic circles. Hans drove close to the farmhouse, his machine guns going ham at the various copies that were charging at them.
Then, at once, four beams sliced through the fields. Multiple copies disappeared, revealing the true demon in the middle of the field. It snarled at them. Hans then saw that the Viceroy was preparing for her next attack. He immediately elected to push into the flank of the demon, using slight depressions on the terrain as cover.
Then, when he had a clear shot for his main gun, he took it. It was just in time for the Viceroy’s magical attack. Unfortunately, both of their attacks proved ineffective. Hans watched as one of the heads turned to him at the last second.
The beam from its mouth immediately slammed on his MPAT round, causing it to detonate prematurely.
On the other hand, the demon absorbed the attack from the Viceroy well. Her pulse attack slammed and burned a good chunk of the demon’s flesh. But it immediately stitched back together, and the demon responded with its attack. The Viceroy was thus forced to use her shield to block it.
And she jumped off the roof of the farmhouse.
“Retreat again! I’m low!” she warned. Hans followed her order, retreating as well and returning to the road. His mech rapidly clocked a speed of sixty kilometers per hour, almost abandoning the Viceroy as she tried to hold off the demon.
“I’m going to try to signal Captain Wittenstein!” Hans shouted using his speaker. He fired another round at the demon, but dozens more of its copies had already appeared. His shot immediately went nowhere, as the packs of its copies rushed and pursued the two of them.
I need to get in range, damn it!
He remembered Adelyn’s words earlier. To not do anything stupid. He laughed at himself briefly. The two of them sure got themselves in too much trouble by overextending themselves.
But whatever. Once we reach Adelyn, we’ll be fine. I’m sure of it.
He already had a plan after all.
+++
Hans was finally getting close to Presidio. He immediately turned his radio on, attempting to gain a secure communications link with Adelyn.
Come on! Come on! Work, damn it!
He continued retreating. When his double coaxials finished reloading, his machine guns reopened their firepower. Dozens of the creature’s copies were vanquished, rapidly. But it seemed that more and more appeared. It was truly overwhelming. And each time he managed to figure out where the creature was, it would suddenly disappear behind its copies.
Hans was turning ever more frustrated. Even the Viceroy, who had finally run out of her AP reserves, jumped on her staff and started flying off.
Hans on the other hand was slower on the ground. He pushed his mech further into retreat. But it wasn’t working well anymore. He fired his MPAT round straight at one of his random targets.
And a pained growl came from the horde of “demons”.
Hans grinned as he turned his speakers on.
“I tapped the bastard—”
“Lieutenant?!”
The shout from his comms didn’t go unheard. Hans immediately focused his attention on it.
“Captain! We’re coming back. We’ve engaged a hostile demonic entity approximately forty klicks south of her. We’re now dragging the bastard to your position. I want you to rally the entire 1st Anti-Demon Unit in standard combat formations."
“I-I’m on it now! What’s your status?!”
Hans was unable to respond for a second, as he dodged another beam from the demon. He drove back on the dirt road to speed himself up. He thus became more visible to the attacker, but Hans pressed on.
“I’m green, but the Viceroy is low in AP reserves, and I’m starting to go low on munitions too!”
“Copy that. We’re already forming up. Don’t worry—we’ll succeed through this.”